Austin-Healey 100 Buyer's Guide
The Healey 100 is the founding big Healey: Donald Healey's 1953 roadster, built around the Austin A90 2.7-litre four and named for its 100mph capability. Our single sold result is £36,000 for a 1958 100/6, the six-cylinder successor that this series page also covers, with active listings running from a BN1 at a £10,000 bid to a 100/6 estimated at £25,000 to £28,000.
Know your versions
The 100/4 BN1 (1953–1955) uses the 2.7-litre four with a three-speed gearbox plus overdrive; the BN2 (1955–1956) brought a proper four-speed. Factory performance versions matter enormously here: the 100M with the Le Mans engine kit, and the alloy-bodied 100S racer, both trade in another league from standard cars nationally. The 100/6 (BN4 and two-seat BN6, 1956–1959) replaced the four with the 2.6-litre C-series six: smoother, initially slower until the six-port head arrived, and the direct ancestor of the 3000. Our sold car and two of our four active listings are 100/6s, which reflects the market's volume.
What to pay
One hammer price on record: £36,000 for a 1958 100/6 in August 2026. The live listings frame the rest: a 1957 100/6 estimated at £25,000 to £28,000, a 1956 100-6 with bidding at £21,500, and a 1954 100/4 BN1 with bidding at £10,000, which is project-grade money for a four-cylinder car. Read our data as: sorted 100/6s in the mid twenties to mid thirties, projects from £10,000, and note that genuine 100M and 100S cars sit far above any figure we hold.
What goes wrong
These are separate-chassis cars, but the chassis and body rot together: check the main rails, outriggers, floors and the shrouds (the alloy front and rear body sections corrode where they meet steel wings, and good replacements are costly). The 2.7 four is a rugged unit with a taste for hot running; a properly cored radiator matters, and the original three-speed box on BN1s is the family's weak gearbox. The C-series six in the 100/6 is durable but heavy on its front suspension: kingpins, lever-arm dampers and worn steering boxes make an unsorted car feel vaguer than it should. Electrics are simple Lucas and easily put right. Originality checks matter: engine and body numbers, correct carburettors, and whether a "100M" is a factory car or a later kit conversion, a difference worth real money.
Our view
The big Healey ecosystem is one of the best in the classic world: near-total parts availability, superb club support, and mechanicals a competent home mechanic can keep alive forever. On our numbers the 100/6 around £21,500 to £36,000 is the sensible buy: same glorious shape, strongest survivor pool. A BN1 at the £10,000 bid level is only for someone who has priced the shrouds. Buy the best chassis you can afford; everything else on a Healey is a catalogue order.
